Mike Report post Posted October 20, 2007 Howdy, someone told me about this place the other day. I live in Texas, east of Dallas at Lake Tawakoni. I thought I would use an image of my latest project as an introduction. This is my first post, I hope I do it correctly. Mike Rodgers Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JustWakinUp Report post Posted October 20, 2007 hey there Mike, The checkbook looks real nice. Welcome to the forums. You found a great resource here at leatherworker.net. There are loads of knowledge here. I look forward to seeing some more of your work. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Report post Posted October 20, 2007 Welcome aboard Mike....enjoy, it's a great place to hang out. Dave Theobald Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freak Report post Posted October 20, 2007 Welcome to the madness !! We love it when people find us and they come with pics. Nice job man. I'm just down the road in Royse City. IF you didn't know it there is one of the biggest leather craft shows going on this weekend in Ft.Worth, the IFoLG at the Green Oaks Hotel. I'm about to head back that way. keep a toolin Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Regis Report post Posted October 20, 2007 Mike, Welcome to our great forum and that is really nice work. It may be pretty quiet here this weekend 'cuz many folks have gone to the IFoLG. What did you use for finish over those great brilliant colors? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TimberWolf Report post Posted October 20, 2007 Mike, Glad you joined us! Regis already asked what I wanted to know....colors/finish ? Very nice, crisp work! Tim Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Don101 Report post Posted October 20, 2007 Mike welcome to the forum... nice work love the colors Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Beaverslayer Report post Posted October 20, 2007 Welcome to the forum Mike. As asked before, what did you use for the briliant colors. Nice work by the way. Ken Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cecil Report post Posted October 20, 2007 Hi Mike - Love the Fish. I would also like to know what you used to get the beilient colors. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mike Report post Posted October 20, 2007 Colors. I'll explain what I did but I'm kind of figgering this out as I go and it may not be correct. This is done primarily in spirit dyes. The belly is in acrylic white. The brand I usually use is Liquidtex tube acrylics. I believe that I also put a very pale wash of acrylic white in the sky area prior to using a diluted blue on it. My spirit dyes for the most part are Fiebing's Leather Dyes. I used Tandy Supersheen (3-4 coats) over the whole thing and then used a polyurethane varnish on the eye for gloss. The gloss is by Delta Ceramcoat. I was going to give the fish a wet look but the varnish started to pull the paint up even through 4 coats of supersheen. It has been suggested that I go over the supersheen with Neat Lac spray. I'll get some of that soon. I think I broke the rules on this one. I wanted more color. I also incorporated design changes to the pattern. The corner curves are tighter, there are trees on the horizon, more clouds, and subtle changes to the fins and details on the fish. Some of these changes reflect input from Peter Main who has been very helpful in emails. I do not even want to discuss the dragonfly. I still don't like it. The sky is completely acrylic colored. No spirit dyes. The water has both dye and acrylic washes on it. I believe the water was a bit too green to start I washed it with some pale blue dye. I mix my dyes prior to use. I strengthen/weaken them as necessary as I go. Once the water was done, I noticed some scratches in the leather I missed prior to carving. These were light and existed in the hide. When dyed, they jumped to the forefront and were very noticeable. On the left side you can still see one scratch if you look at the larger image. I used an acrylic wash over the dyed water to hide the scratches. I also used a pale blue acrylic on the ripples and foreground splash for highlighting. This is also supersheened . I believe I prefer to use dye under acrylic rather than vice versa. I seem to get more subtle edges when the acrylics go on last. Dye shows up edges of underlayers of acrylics that my eyes did not detect. The ridge you see at center is because this is made to be naturally closed. It does have a ridge when open but no wrinkles in it's naturally closed state. I hope this doesn't bore you guys. I do not have anyone around here to work with so I ask questions via email or just experiment. Mike Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Beaverslayer Report post Posted October 20, 2007 Not boring by any means Mike. Thanks for the explanation on how you did it, much appreciated. Ken Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ClayB Report post Posted October 20, 2007 Nice job on the checkbook and the description of how you colored it. Isn't it great when Peter Main gives you help like that? I can see some of his influence in your checkbook. Welcome to leatherworker.net. Hope to see more of your work here. Clay Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cecil Report post Posted October 22, 2007 Thanks for the explenation. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
